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What's it really like to be a Neurosurgeon or in Neuroscience in general?

I originally wanted to pursue a career in Astrology or any science. I felt that if I wanted to achieve goals such as doing charity and making the world a better place, I needed a high paying career/job that would be enjoyable and interesting.
So, what are the feelings of being a Neurosurgeon; having something so delicate in your hands and trying to save someone's life. Are they usually involved in research as well? What percentage are their surgeries successful?
#neuroscience #science #general-career-questions #brain-surgeon #neuroscientist #neurosurgery #surgery #career #money #morals #research #success

science money research surgery neuroscience success neuroscientist neurosurgery general-career-questions morals brain-surgeon
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Sofia’s Answer

Hello Brooklyn,

This is a great question! I'm a medical student and here's my perspective. Neurosurgeons do work a lot, that's true, despite being a high paid job. I mean, they know very well neuroanatomy and pathophysiology of brain disorders which are the foundations of this speciality.
As with every branch in Medicine, I advise you to choose first something that you like and that you feel happy taking care of those type of patients. Medicine has a long route of studies and the path is for the resilient ones. I don't mean to discourage you, much on the contrary, just informing so you can take an informed decision.
Neurosurgeons can and are encouraged additionaly to do clinical or basic medicine research at the same time ( for example: neuroscience research, spine research, brain cancer research, among other topics...). A few of them only dedicates to research I believe.
They perform life saving surgeries for example, when there is a subdural hemorrhage or even cerebellar hemorrhage and patients can improve significantly (as for the latter example). Of course, it depends on the status of the patient at presentation, for example a patient that presents with a glasgow coma score of 3 has a bad prognosis at start, even if the surgery is successful.... It depends on the patients, their comorbidities, and of course if the surgery is successful, the level of experience of the surgeon and so on. A lots of factors are involved but medicine is always evolving.
I think you will get a better notion in medical residency, this is just a glimpse and of course one perspective.

Good luck with your studies!
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Lindsey’s Answer

Great question Brooklyn. I'm sorry it hasn't been answered yet! I thought I'd link you to a few other relevant Q&A threads on CareerVillage.org that should be super helpful for you to read through. I also found this day in the life description from Laszlo B. Tamas, Neurosurgeon, 21 years practicing in Bay area on Quora:


One of the special things about neurosurgery is that there is rarely an "average day." We are on call so much - open to consults for trauma, emergencies and urgent cases - that we have surprisingly little control over our own time. It's one of the special problems we face more than other specialties, because we play vital roles in things like keeping a Trauma Center afloat (most serious trauma includes neurological trauma), yet our numbers are far smaller than other participants. Consider the effect on call schedule of the fact that for every 1 neurosurgeon, there are:


  • 20 internists
  • 6 general surgeons
  • 4 orthopedic surgeons
  • 4 cardiologists
  • 2 ENT surgeons
  • 2 neurologists

So the reality of our lives is that we have 2 jobs:


  1. elective practice (clinics, elective surgeries)
  2. on call (which can be as much as 1:2)

And much of our professional life is a conflict between these two.


I should add that a worrying trend of late has been that some neurosurgeons simply give up their craniotomy privileges (most serious disease in Neurosurgery is brain disease), stop taking call, and have a much more relaxed lifestyle (without much loss of income). Can't say that I blame them, though I don't think I will ever follow in their path. So ... if you ignore the unpredictable and highly stressful call coverage issue, here is what an average practice might look like. In a typical year, in the U.S., an average neurosurgeon does:


  • about 40 - 50 brain surgeries
  • about 160 - 180 spine surgeries

Some people - especially in larger neurosurgical groups - specialize further (e.g. in spine, or vascular neurosurgery, or brain tumors), so these numbers can vary a lot. Based on a typical "yield" of surgical cases from clinic (~30% - i.e. seeing 10 new patients in clinic yielding 3 surgical cases), and typical pace of clinic, a typical week might look like this:


  • 2 days in the operating room (start ~7:00 AM)
  • 2 - 3 full days in clinic
  • rounds:
  • in the morning (7:00 AM)
  • in the evening (perhaps ~7:00 PM)
  • what time is left goes to administration, meetings, QA functions etc. (again, being a small specialty means inordinate such duties)

If you like academics, you can tack on to this the time you spend doing (and applying for $$$ support) research and teaching, in return for which you have residents helping bear the burden. Few neurosurgeons work less than 50-60 hours a week (80+ is not at all unusual), practically all of them complain about lack of time with family (high divorce rate), and hobbies are usually flexible ones (e.g. if you run, better run around a track when you're on call). Few would do this job if they didn't love it ... like other branches of Medicine, "it's a life, not a job." My saving graces are that I love what I do, have great family understanding and support, and I'm something of an insomniac.


Q&A on CareerVillage.org about neurology:

How to go about becoming a neurosurgeon?


Deciding between neurology and anesthesiology

What are work hours as a neurologist like?
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